


Negan Slow Dancing On My Last Nerve

by brunettebrawler56



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Healing, Sharing a Bed, Survival, hater to lover, post-alexandria escape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:28:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunettebrawler56/pseuds/brunettebrawler56
Summary: After escaping Alexandria's prison cell, Negan is lost in so many ways. So is Miller. She's a hellcat and he's a bastard. It's meant to be. Escaping walkers, earning begrudging respect, and filthy mouthed Negan will all happen as our favorite anti-hero falls in love. Smut to come down the road.
Relationships: Negan (Walking Dead)/Original Character(s)/Reader, Negan (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Dumb. Idiotic. Brainless. Half-baked. Foolish. Stupid. I could nearly hear what my darling sister would have said if she saw me pulling a passed-out stranger out of the middle of the road. You’re really going to risk a car full of supplies and your own life just to be a Girl Scout for a ‘probably on his way to dead’ guy? I know it’s lonely on the road, but, Christ. You’re literally picking up a stray!

I ignored her fictional yammering as I kept dragging him. Why did he weigh the same as a dying star? Normally, I didn’t even bother swerving over the dead as I drove. But as I sped towards him, the form clutched a baseball bat covered in barbed wire, like even when he wasn’t conscious, he wanted to protect himself. That little movement was enough for me to slam on my breaks and drag him to my car.  
I nearly collapsed as I propped the man against the station wagon’s tire. Kneeling, I flicked the side of the man’s head hard, hoping for a response. Nada. His breathing was steady, his long eyelashes shut. He was broad and tall; salt and pepper scruff, strong brows, and a thick head of black hair—obviously handsome and obviously trouble. 

Rummaging through his pants pockets and over his holster yielded a large pocketknife, a flask half full of whiskey, four .22 shells, a compass, and a lone tic-tac. I pocketed everything but the tic-tac. I moved up to his leather jacket, checking inside for bites or wounds. I touched his chest and side, noting that he was strong. Outside of a trickle of blood at his temple, he seemed without major injury. In his left pocket was a red cravat. How fashion forward. I tied his hands together with it.

Hauling him up into the station wagon turned out to be a bitch, but I managed to get him in and seat belted. After a moment debating, I walked back and picked up his baseball bat. Then I hid it in the back of the trunk, under some blankets on the off-chance he got any ideas about using it on me if he ever woke back up. 

I drove and he snored lightly. Fields and farms passed by, groups of rotters shambled in the distance. The leaves were changing. Winter was around the bend. This time last year, I’d been in a camp where there were warm beds and food. It had been such a change from the two winters before on the road; shivering until I thought my bones would shatter, chewing on bark just to stop my teeth from chattering. Feeling hollow, weak, frail… 

I stiffened my grip on the steering wheel. That wasn’t going to happen again. I was going to find a place to hole up and not move until the snow was melted. Getting enough supplies just for myself wasn’t impossible. I just had to be careful. 

The snoring stopped. I turned my head just in time to see the man press himself against the door to maneuver his long leg to my side and stomp onto the break. “What the fuck!” I screeched, clawing at the wheel to keep the car from skidding into a ditch. We stopped with a hard jerk. The man reached down with his tied hands for the belt buckle but froze when I pulled my gun from my thigh holster. 

He eased back up to sitting, holding his tied hands up innocently. Then he smiled. Deep dimples bracketed perfect, white teeth. If he’d been handsome before, it was nothing compared to now. His deep voice was easy as Sunday morning. “Whoa there, darlin’. No need for that thing.”


	2. Chapter 2

So much for good deeds. I scowled at him, “I get you’re a bit disoriented and confused, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll put a bullet in you without a second thought. Understand?”

The man nodded in concession. Then he looked out the windshield. Ahead was a sign for Broad Run, Virginia, 3.7 miles ahead. He sounded surprised, “You’re telling me Alexandria’s got folks this far north?”

“Alexandria?”

He cocked his head and gave me a once over. I kept my chin up, willing myself not to smooth my riot of curly black hair, barely held up in a bun by a rubber band. I was filthy, scrawny, and not much to look at. But he took his time sizing me up before asking, “You’re not from Alexandria are you?”

I perked up out of curiosity as I started the car again, “There are people? A community?”

“Not one you’d want in,” he said, looking away. Then came the obvious question, “Who are you?”

“Miller.”

“What’s your first name?”

“It’s just Miller.”

“Well, Just Miller, I’m Negan.”

There was an uncomfortable pause. He asked the second most obvious question, “How’d I get here?”

“You were in the middle of the road. I figured you could use some help.”

One side of his mouth twitched up, “You picked me up out of the goodness of your heart?”

“And I’m already regretting it,” I said with a sarcastic smile. “Sun’s going down, so I figured I’d find a safe place to let you out. You can have a bottle of water and a can of SPAM. I’ll let you have your knife back, but I’m keeping the bullets. Sorry.”

He didn’t look offended in the slightest, only slightly perturbed. “Nobody helps people for nothing out here.”

“I’m not doing it for nothing. I’m building myself up some damn good karma in case I ever need a savior.”

“Savior,” he snorted like it was funny. “Looks like you found yourself one.”

I scrunched my nose in confusion. He was trouble. I could just tell. “Whatever. I couldn’t leave you where you were and I didn’t see anyone around. Do you need to go back and find your people?”

“Don’t have any.” Absentmindedly, he reached his tied hands to his jacket pocket where he’d been keeping the flask that I confiscated. When he didn’t find it, he just sighed. I knew in that moment he was just trying to run from whatever happened to him. He was just trying to survive. And that—I understood. 

It was solely that sympathy that made me dig through my jacket pocket and hand him back the black flask. He took it with a faint smirk, “You’re not even old enough to drink this, are you?”

I scoffed. “I’m 28, you geezer.”

“Still a baby to me,” he said lazily, managing to get the flask back into his pocket even with tied hands.

I asked, “Where were you headed before I found you?”

“North. South’s pretty well picked over.”

I hated to be the bearer of bad news. “I just came from up north. You don’t want to be heading that direction.”

He frowned, “Shit. Scavenged over?”

I focused my eyes on the road. “If the fuck ton of dead don’t get you, the sickness and cold will. It isn’t worth it.”

“Well, shit,” he muttered, touching his tongue to the back of his teeth. “I’m guessing you know that from experience?”

“I started out near Boston.”

“Fuck me. You’re a long way from home, kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” I reprimanded lamely.

He looked at me skeptically. It took everything in me not to squirm under his hazel gaze that was roaming longer than it had to. Finally, he held up his bound hands. “Any chance you’re going to let me out of these?”

“Not until I’m driving away and you’ve got a knife you can use.”

He broke into a charming grin, “Safety first, eh?”

“I don’t know you,” I reminded.

He leaned back in the seat and lazily flicked a pink tongue of her his lower lip. “Don’t worry, kid. You’re safe with me. I’ve got a line or two still in me I haven’t meandered across.”

I kept my voice flat, “Wow. I feel so lucky.”

He smirked and looked out at the passing trees. “How long you been out on the road?”

The familiar pang of sadness punched my diaphragm. I missed my sister. I missed people. I was honest for God knows what reason with my answer. “I’ve been on my own since late spring.”

His brows drew together skeptically, “A little slip of a woman out here for that long?”

“If you’re just going to make me repeat myself, I can kick you out right here.”

“I just don’t know a lot of people who could survive that long out here, let alone someone who’s naïve enough to pick up a stranger.”

“You are just determined to make me regret saving your sorry ass, aren’t you?”

He just grinned in reply. Mood sufficiently soured, I let out a curse as I slowed the station wagon to a stop. There was a pickup truck perfectly situated so that I couldn’t drive around it. I took the keys out of the ignition and told Negan, “Stay here.” Then I was off to fix my problem.


	3. Chapter 3

A rotter pawed at the window from inside the truck I needed to move from the road. Since she was mostly decomposed, the bowie knife I kept strapped to my thigh went through her skull like butter. I shoved her aside to reach the emergency break. The moment it popped, the truck started to roll on the road’s small incline. That’s when I heard something behind me. I steered the wheel to the right to make sure it went into a ditch, then looked behind me. Five rotters were headed my way.

The first was missing his jaw, tongue flailing uselessly. I kicked him in the chest and he dropped to the ground. The second and third were nearly impossible to recognize as they lunged. I held off the one and swung my knife into the other’s temple. Mr. No-Jaw was trying to get up from ground, but I had my hands full with the one in front of me. He was strong, but I was able to jam my knife into his face. He dropped and another rotter took his place. Thankfully, she was easy because her arms were dislocated. I nailed her in the eye. The last one hissed and reached. I swatted his hands away and caught him behind the ear.

The expression on Negan’s face from inside the station wagon was a mixture of interest and amusement. No-Jaw had finally gotten back to his feet and was stumbling into my path. I took him out through the top of his head. When he fell, I bent to wipe the brains on my filthy knife onto the remnants of his shirt. Slipping it back into its sheath, I hopped back into the car. 

Negan noted, “You stay pretty calm out there.”

“Don’t have another option, now do I?” I said, starting the car again. With the truck moved out of the road, we passed easily and were back on our way.

“You stay that calm when it’s people?”

I paused a moment, feeling the heat of his eyes on me. Honestly? No. Not after what I’d seen—what I’d experienced out here. He seemed to sense that was my answer because he suddenly switched subjects. “Have you ever seen a rotter with no teeth? As long as I’ve been out here, I haven’t found a single one that wore dentures before this whole thing started. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Most people with dentures are in wheelchairs. I don’t see them figuring out how to wheel themselves along.”

“Well shit, kid. Now I’m kind of hoping I find one. Though I think stairs would be its downfall.”

I laughed at the pun despite my try to swallow it. The guy was growing on me a little. Like a fungus. I went to put the key in the ignition but he pointed to a sign, half covered by a bramble bush. 

“We’re not too far from a housing development. It’s probably not the Four Seasons, but it’ll do.”

It was a bit out of the way, but I shrugged, “I dunno if I can take you to the front door since it may take some back roads, but I can get you closer.”

“Not me. Us.”

One brow drew up skeptically. “I’m not spending the night with you.”

Those dimples were like quicksand. “Kid, you weigh a buck ten and you don’t look like you’ve slept in a month. You need someone.”

“I need you to shut up,” I said, restarting the car and driving.

He glanced over his shoulder, “Couldn’t hurt to have a second set of eyes for a night.”

I didn’t even bother taking my eyes off the road, “Did I stutter? I said no.”

“Listen doll, you’re not exactly my type either so I get this isn’t a great partnership. But you need sleep and I need food.”

“I already told you. I’ll give you a can of food and a bottle of water.”

“But you’ve got boxes back there filled. And I make an excellent partner.”

“Is that why you’re on your own now?”

The silence of a reply was deafening. I could tell it was a sore spot since he took a sip from his flask.

I felt a little bad, so I amended, “I don’t like groups. And two people always end up with three and then it’s a group and then it’s dead. Easier to nip it in the bud.” Especially a group with him, I thought to myself. Too handsome. Too dangerous. Too annoying.

“I’m not proposing, doll. I’m just suggesting a night where we’re both safe and fed. Why don’t we just scratch each other’s backs?” Then he had the audacity to grin at me and wink. 

I slammed on the breaks. He would have hit that gorgeous mug of his on the dashboard had I not strapped him in. I took the keys out of the ignition and hopped out. He watched me round the front of the vehicle with a frown. I opened the door and he started in, “Now wait a minute, kid—”

I leaned over him, unintentionally brushing my breasts against his arm, and popped the seatbelt. Then I yanked him out of the car by his leather jacket, dropping him onto the dirt road. “This has been a real treat, old man. But it’s a hard no.” I rounded the back of the car and opened the trunk. I raked around the boxes for a can of food and that bat I’d taken off him.

A heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder and instinctively, I used the butt end of the bat to slam backwards against ribs. As I turned, Negan dropped to his knees.

I expected rage in his eyes, but instead there was mirth. That asshole was happy. He grinned, “Damn, you’re a little hellcat!”

I grabbed the can of Spam that had fallen onto the lip of the bumper and chucked it at his balls. It was a direct hit by the roar of pain he let out. I pointed the wire covered bat at him. “I was going to let you have this back. But now I’m thinking there’s no goddamn way I can trust you not to attack me, asshole.”

He winced his eyes open to see the bat and a flare of recognition brightened his expression. “Lucille!”

“You named your bat?” I asked.

He ignored my question. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just going to tell you that you should reconsider since I know the area and you don’t.”

“Hard no.”

“Fine. Then give me Lucille and I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, you’ll leave me alone anyways,” I said simply, shutting the trunk. “It’s been a real treat, but that’s twice you’ve jumped me. Good luck on your own.” 

I didn’t turn my back to him as I shut his door and rounded the front of the car. I hopped in and drove away, the dust sputtering up in his face. I expected to see anger or defeat in the rearview mirror. Instead he was laughing, like it was the funniest thing in the world I’d left him defenseless on a barren backroad. By the size of him, he could handle himself. He didn’t need anyone or anything, despite what he said. 

And I was better off on my own too.


	4. Chapter 4

I was not better off on my own.

The dead had come out of nowhere and surrounded the station wagon. I’d stopped to take a piss twenty minutes from where I’d left Negan. I was finishing up when rotters appeared in the woods behind me. I walked quickly to the car, turned the key in the ignition, and—

Nothing happened. More were coming out of the woods. A shit ton more. 

I tried again. And again and again and again to get the engine to start and it wasn’t fucking working. Jesus Christ why does this always happen when I least need it to. Fuck on a fucking fuck—

Rotters were at the car now, smearing their bloody, dirty handprints against the windows, moaning to get inside. I could take a hell of a lot of the dead at one time without hesitating. But this wasn’t manageable. They were forty deep at least and they were rocking the car with   
their insistence to get in. It was only a matter of time before the window broke.

Plan B fucking sucked, but I saw no other option. I grabbed my knife and my new bat and crawled up through the sunroof. The rotters grew more restless at seeing me out in the open. Dirty fingernails scraped my boots and the sound of teeth gnashing was almost louder than their groans. It didn’t matter. It would just take time for me to pick my way through them. And then I’d sort out what to do with the car.

It took an hour to kill them all.

Systematically, I’d hit them on the head with the bat. And when one took the fallen one’s place, I’d hit another. As the bodies lined up, they crawled high enough to grab my ankle. But it didn’t matter. I was quick and would get my bowie knife in the top of their head before they could pull hard enough to topple me off the car. Once crawling over the permanently dead was too difficult for the remaining rotters, I took a little break, lounging on top to gain my breath. And then I hopped down and took out the final ten that were too far to reach. 

As much as Negan had been a bust, his bat had not. “Lucille” was made for bashing skulls and I was becoming a fan. I leaned against the side of the van, exhausted.

“Hole-y shit, what a badass.”

I whirled around to find Negan ambling over, one brow cocked in surprise. “You did all this by yourself?”

“No, I’ve got a fairy godmother,” I said flatly. “How the hell did you find me?”

“It’s a road, genius. I walked it. And there you were.”

“Is it exhausting being the biggest dick in the state of Virginia?”

“Well don’t go belittling me. I’m the biggest dick in this United States of America. And have the biggest one.”

“That, I doubt,” I muttered.

Negan leaned against the car with me, as if I hadn’t dragged him out of the thing not an hour and a half ago. “So you’ve got all this food back here. Why’re you skin and bones?”

“Saving up for the winter,” I replied. “I’m going to find some place to hibernate and be safe and fed.”

“And that means being weak now?”

“I’m not weak,” I snapped defensively

He had to have been a wrestler in high school. It was the only explanation for how he was able to move like lightning to press me up against the van, with both of my wrists in one of his hands. I wrenched and kicked but he was strong and my fighting only seemed to amuse him more. Those stupid fucking gorgeous dimples. It was unfair.

He said lazily, “Tell me again about how you’re not too weak?”

I clenched my teeth in irritation, but only half was directed at him. A little piece of myself was very much a fan of the way his body crowded mine. It had been so long since I had a man. My nipples hardened slightly, rubbing the cotton of my white shirt with every struggling move. He wasn’t immune to the sight and he crushed our chests closer. I let out a little sound of contentment at the contact. 

What the fuck? The guy was annoying. And yet, I was daydreaming a little of what his scruff would do to the inside of my thighs. 

His eyes wandered back up to my lips. “You have me thinking about all the good ways that smart mouth of yours can be put to fucking use”  
My thighs were getting slick at the feel of his hardness brushing against me. I said halfheartedly, “Let go of me.”

His deep voice went rough, “No. You don’t like being bossed around. Which is exactly why I want to boss you around.”

Then his free hand skated up the sides of my breasts, to my neck. He stroked the pulse there, smirking down at me. He opened his mouth to make some other remark that would make me want to punch him and kiss him at the same time, when there was a noise. 

Telltale sounds of groans and branches breaking began where the other rotters had come from. I gasped in surprise. It wasn’t just a few more. This was a hoard. And it was on the way. I jumped in the front seat and tried to start the car again. Still nothing. The motor wasn’t even trying to sputter.

Negan opened the door and grabbed my arm, “Come on, kid. We need to go.”

“But my supplies,” I cried.

“Grab what you can. Leave the rest,” he ordered.

“But it’s everything I have,” I whimpered, my eyes growing teary. I’d worked all summer to save it all for the winter. And now it would be ruined by rotters.

Negan grabbed me by the chin and forced my eyes up to his. “I promise you. We will come back for it. But right now, we’ve gotta haul ass or we’re going to be walker bait. Let’s go.”

And for once I just listened. My muscles moved automatically. I had a camping bag in the back seat that I snagged. Negan held out his hand, “Give me Lucille.”

I didn’t hesitate. A hoard overrode any pettiness I may have felt about the guy. And then we were running.


End file.
